My partner and I opted to bring a 30 meter 7 Mil. rope and a set of stoppers. It was too short to rappel the summit block so we just put a few pieces in on the way down. Seemed better than a heavy pack or a risky fall.

I hiked up Thielson three times in school, and photograph it whenever I can get down there. Its profile is so different and almost Alp-like. The view from the top, complete with those white moths, is indescribable. Can't wait to hike it again.

We climbed up the west ridge of Mount Thielsen. The summit pinnacle was a fun scramble and easier than expected. There were good handholds and no need for a rope. Good weather and view from the summit. Nice mountain climb.

Mazama climb that convinced me that class 4 can be done without a rope here. Of course, it was nice that our leader set a fixed line. If standing on the east side, below the rock, climb up the right side, it's much easier. We avoided a t-storm over Crater Lake, though it did make us nervous.

With fellow V Islanders Graham and Tony and my cousin Patsy from the UK and her husband Keith. Great climb up the W ridge and summit block in under 4h on a perfect day and as the last of a 3 volcano trip.

Soloed and downclimbed the Class 4 summit block with no technical difficulty. Bit stiffer than I expected I must say.

Objective danger was there aplenty, however, in the shape of an unspeakably incompetant and dangerous church group from somewhere in Boondocksville, OR. I'm thinking of entitling the TR "The Power of Faith".

Someone should remove or re-tie the rap station up there. Since we were soloing we had nothing to replace it with and as foreigners, didn't think it our place to remove it. There are two short tapes around the selected horn JOINED by the rap ring! Doh...........

We snowshoed into treeline in the dead of winter, and dug a snow cave for the night. In the morning we headed for the summit. We ended up ditching our snowboards because of avalanche danger. Then we had to ditch our snowshoes for crampons towards the end as it got steep. Finally we were ice climbing towards the top when we realized it was getting dark, and clouds were moving in. We climbed down (were within 30 ft of the summit) but too slowly, we were caught in a storm. After hours of searching for our stuff, we ended up plowing down towards the treeline for protection. We couldn't find our snowshoes, or our snowcave with our bags. Luckily we had a shovel, so we dug a new cave which we still froze inside (15F). We survived with minor frostbite on one of my toes, and luckily it was sunny the next day so I was able to go back up and find our gear and head home.

Short hike with a fun scramble up the summit block--much better rock than I was expecting, especially after the loose choss on Three Fingered Jack and Mt. Washington. With Bob and Rick, the last peak of a tour of the OR Cascades.

The Oregon mountain that most caught my eye when I first started browsing this website several years ago was Mt Thielsen. All summer I put off climbing this one, somewhat intimidated by the climb at the top, after asking Dean and Larry (cascadetraveler) what they thought of the spire I decided to give 'er a shot (thanks for the advice guys!).

The first 3.5 miles went quick, not much elevation gain; the trail was well groomed and easy to follow. The next mile and a half up the ridgeline was a lot of fun. Some places it was so steep I was down on all fours doing all I could to not slide down the mountainside. At the base of the pinnacle I ran into a group of awesome UO instructors who graciously offered me the use of their rope which I declined. The climb up and down the pinnacle was a breeze, much, much easier than I built it up to be over a summer of planning on doing this. I am ecstatic to have finally climbed Thielsen, what a great year of hiking this has been.

09/25/2010: Climbed with my brother who hadnt been up here before. Still a fun climb, easier than I remembered!

"After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, which is the most horrible thing in the world."
--Oscar Wilde on Absinthe